Lakeview Elementary Building Occupied

OAKLAND, California – The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) is closing 5 schools reportedly due to budget cuts. Parents, teachers, and community members are in an uproar as access to public education dwindles–particularly in poor communities of color. In protest to the school shut downs, a handful of community members set up a tent encampment outside the Lakeview Elementary campus on Friday, the last day of school. In tandem with the “sit-in,” teachers have been organizing classes for kids at the encampment during the demonstration, dubbing it the “People’s School for Public Education.”

The tent sit-in continued into Monday morning, when police arrived and posted flyers stating:

Safe, healthy and supportive schools require good order and peaceful conduct. Notice. Willful interference with the good order of a school is a misdemeanor. You are interfering with the good order and peaceful conduct of this school. You are directed to leave this school immediately and you may not return for 30 days.

The flyer continues by stating the penal code in violation and redirects all inquiries to the [Police Dept. of OUSD].

Around 10am, the demonstrators held a brief press conference, then decided to open up the building. The police reportedly set the alarm off in the building. Reportedly, one of the officers patrolling around Lakeview is Sgt. Barhim Bhatt who killed Raheim Brown last year.

Organizers have announced that a support rally will be held today, Monday, at 4pm at Lakeview, on 746 Grand Ave.